This is a guest post by Louise Baker. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.
The Internet has opened up entire worlds of opportunities to us, so why is it that so many find money making opportunities hard to come by? Perhaps they’re looking in all the wrong places, or looking for opportunities that are so easy, that they’re too good to be true.
Don’t be confused, working online requires hard work, like any other business. But choosing the right place to start making money can make all the difference in a successful money making venture online. With that in mind, here are five real, easy ways to start making money online.
1) Freelance Work
There was a time when all of the moneymaking opportunities online were limited to various ways of generating ad revenue. The world has changed drastically in the last decade. Business approaches the Internet seriously, and freelance opportunities abound. The only reason freelance jobs didn’t make it higher up the list is the need start the process all over again one when you complete a contract. What is your niche? Is it writing, graphic arts, web design, or programming? Hook up with the appropriate service, and start networking.
2) Surveys & Focus Groups
We’ll lump surveys and focus groups into that class of opportunity often referred to as get-paid-to. The get-paid-to websites/services focus on introducing web surfers to businesses around the globe who want to know more about them. Get-paid-to opportunities are limited in scope, so one’s not going to seek to make a living here. However, this is a great opportunity for those who want to make extra cash with their free time, and do it in a relaxed environment.
3) Online Auctions
Using online auctions like eBay or websites such as Craigslist, many people have turned a hobby into a profitable business. A great aspect to online auctions as a business is that the stepladder approach to success is obvious. Start with little to no cost by pedaling the garage sale-type items that you find in your home. Then, use that money to purchase new items, from wholesale outlets and flea markets, which you can sell online at the auctions for a profit.
4) Affiliate Promotion
Affiliate promotion is a lot like sales. Many people will view it as impossible, or too much effort for the return. There will also be those who take to it like a fish to water wondering why there aren’t more people at it. A great aspect to affiliate promotion is that you don’t need your own website. Use the power of other websites, and put that love of social networking to great use.
5) Start a Blog
Starting a blog is 100% free, and you can start earning money today without a service or product to sell. Find a niche, your niche. In order for this to work well, the blog has to center on a topic that you truly love. Readers will sense the passion in your words, and become fans. Those regular readers will earn you money due to the free advertising opportunities, such as Google Adsense, and through various affiliate opportunities. For best effect, purposefully target your niche with the money making opportunities.
Wrap Up
There’s no excuse anymore – all 5 of these opportunities don’t require any start up capital, just a strong work ethic and a little bit of knowledge and skill. If you’ve been having trouble making money online or are new to the arena, then these 5 ways could be your entry into the wonderful ways of making money on the internet.
All five of these possibilities contain a great many opportunities each. Keep your eyes peeled, and look for opportunity where it’s least expected. With a can-do attitude, you’ll find the money making opportunity that’s right for you.
About Author :
When Louise Baker isn’t looking for more ways to make money on the internet, she writes about higher education, with a focus on accredited online degrees. She most recently wrote about the best paralegal schools online.
About Lee Ka Hoong
I love doing Affiliate promotion as it’s very Easy & Lucrative to make Money Online!
Liked reading all the 5 posts. I have started with the 5th way- blogging. Informative post. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, these are some good ideas. How about some other examples. Ie. what are the best freelance sites that you recommend?
I have used scriptlance.com and freelancer.com (GAF) both as a buyer and as a freelancer (providing services).
In my experience, freelancer.com beats scriptlance.com from both perspectives (buyer and freelancer).
I get paid better on freelancer.com and also when I post projects, I get better quality freelancers on freelancer.com than scriptlance.
I have looked at elance.com and odesk.com but they look complicated (I will have to learn many features, rules, read faq’s etc there)
So I love freelancer.com!
Gwen, what are you looking to freelance in?
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing recently posted..Less is More – Here’s My Current To-Do List
For me the No.5 is the best! But it depends on different individual which way they want to choose. In fact taking surveys earns a lot from blogging but you must choose the one which you got passion with it.
I guess the point is – making money online is not impossible and start now!
I agree that it depends on the person. Lee has listed some great suggestions for someone who hasn’t made money online but is interested in getting into it. People should look into each of these strategies more and see if it is really for them or not. Different people have different interests and skills. Even if they are already making money online, it’s a good idea to try some different strategies to diversify their income.
I always hear about making money online with doing the survey. However, i never get any benefit from it. May i know is the make money survey available for any region in the world?
I choose to make money with blogging. I love to read and i love to write. That is why i choose blogging. Anyway, thanks for your sharing! :)
Back when I tried surveys they were looking for specific demographics, mostly US. There should be some international surveys, but likely harder to find and as a result, less money to be made. Still it might be worth looking into, you might find another great 2nd income source.
We’ve published several hundred Squidoo lenses. What’s nice about Squidoo is a person can make several hundred dollars per months during months with little to no involvement in Squidoo. Once the lens is made, Squidoo pays based on revenue sharing.
Colleen@Kennewick Real Estate recently posted..Utter Disappointment And The Classiest Acts That Followed, Armando Galarraga, Detroit Tigers, Jim Joyce
Wow several hundred squidoo lenses. That’s impressive. The great part about squidoo is that you can piggyback off of their site’s popularity and get traffic easier. There are also similar sites such as hubpages which also have revenue sharing schemes. For anyone with a knack for writing, it’s worth trying out.
The internet really has opened a lot of opportunities to make money online without having much capital. Blogging and affiliate marketing are probably my two favorites. :)
Mathew Day recently posted..How John Chow Makes $40K Monthly Blogging-FREE Ebook | Win iPad
I would say , If you want to make money online fast, then you must concentrate on Freelance work and Filling surveys, even though surveys can be boring sometimes.
Earning with affiliate marketing is not that easy as you need to create your strong foot hold in the market. Also blogging is a long activity, you need to have that passion to succeed!
These aren’t mutually exclusive, IMO. For example, you can start a blog for affiliate marketing or even to promote your freelance work.
Anne recently posted..So Glad I’m “Just” a Webmaster